A Father for Christmas
by Chibi Yuushi
Summary: Kenji makes a wish for Christmas...


_Ciao!!!_

_Since it is Christmas today I thought I'd post this... it's short, bittersweet and rather pointless, a story about Christmas and wishes come true, based on Seisouhen and hopefully at least a little bit realistic. I have not yet finished yn of my chapters since Christmas demands more attention than I thought it would, but there's this short one-shot to help carry you across ^.^ I hope you like it and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!!!_

**A Father for Christmas** ****

Winter had come to the town of Tokyo, silently and overnight. Suddenly, the world had lost the sharp focus the clear, crisp air of the days before had given it and had turned in on itself, a comforting, fuzzy presence in the minds of the tiny creatures that walked on it. Great, white flakes of frozen water had rained from the sky in a silent dance celebrating the joy of Mother Earth clothing herself in a beautiful gown, obscuring the ugly marks on her skin and giving even the artificial housings that crowded along the lazy, frozen river a natural and smooth appearance. Trees sagged under their load, relieving their slender branches of the white powder that instead relocated itself to the heads of the black-haired people walking underneath them. The sun sparkled brilliantly, caught and reflected by every single of the myriad translucent crystals that formed the white, protective cover of snow.

Children's voices rang with delight as they left their traces in the snow, drawing strange and foreign patterns with their erratic wandering, digging and throwing of snowballs. From above the little craftsmen looked as though they milled about with the same incoherent logic that ants in an anthill possessed, unerringly finding their way in the most illogical fashion.

The ringing of a bell called them from their game, their startled little heads whipping around and following the sound like sheep following their shepherd to safe shelter and food. Their sweet, young voices fell silent as they one by one entered the building that had called them, leaving little shoes at the entrance, dropping little puddles of molten snow onto the worn tatami mats.

An adult voice lectured them, stern but with an air of friendly understanding and a hint of longing, a male voice, then a female one as the hours went by. From time to time, a child's voice interrupted the adults, answering or asking, adding to the music of the snow-covered town.

Little feet dragging their path heralded the coming of a blazing afternoon, the sun going down in all its glory, taking with it the sparkling day and making way for a star-studded night. The little feet were tired and weary, but with a little bouncy energy behind their steps. The day had worn them out, still they remained walking, this time with a precise goal, a knowledge of where and when to turn as they picked their path amidst the hastening legs of the bigger people.

"Going home already, Kenji?" The soft voice of a shy, beautiful girl, coming from an alleyway to his right. She was the girlfriend of his older brother, the child remembered, her name was Tsubame, sweet and withdrawn but a wonderful playmate nonetheless.

"Tell Kaoru we'll be there for dinner," Yahiko, who had an arm around the girls' shoulders, called. The child nodded. He might be a little clumsy and not always hit his mark with a snowball, or find his way down from a rooftop he had climbed because he loved heights, but the four-year-old was by no means slow or stupid. His body deserted his mind more often than not, and he fervently wished he had the grace his older brother, sister and mother possessed. Once again, a sting went through his little heart as he remembered what he had learned at school today.

It was a special day today, at least in the Western world. His friend, the son of the Dutch consul, had told the class about it. He had told them about a man who fulfilled wishes if children had been behaved the year before. He had told them about a tree that was brought into the house, then decorated with glass spheres and candles, and he had told them about the songs they sang. They were strange, and Kenji could not pronounce all the words, but they were beautiful nonetheless and he found himself humming the tune of one of them, one telling about that candle-lit tree. He knew what he would wish for. His chubby, right hand clutched the small piece of rice paper on which he had written his wish protectively. Their teacher had had to help him write the words, he had not yet learned them, unlike 'kite' or 'sword' or 'doll'. His wish had been special, the thing he knew he wanted most. That strange old man, that 'bishop'- whatever that was, he thought it was the man's honorary title, like Yahiko's was 'Tokyo samurai'- would surely grant his wish. It was big, and Kenji hoped he had been behaved enough, but it was his only wish, and it wasn't only for himself.

"Hello, Kenji!" The little redhead smiled shyly up at his neighbor's wrinkle-covered face, "back from school so early?" He nodded, being shy around people other than his family.

"What did you learn today, little one?" Kenji didn't answer, hiding his face behind his free arm while his right hand clutched his rice paper even tighter.

"Run ahead to your mother, Kenji," their neighbor told him. Gratefully, Kenji smiled through the cover of his arms and took off running, snow dusting from the soles of his sturdy sandals like little clouds racing across the wintry sky. Snow was rare in Tokyo, but Kenji loved it and didn't even feel the cold. Running brought an exhilarating feeling, and his cheeks became rosy-colored and hot as he bounced up to the gate of the Kamiya dojo, earlier tiredness forgotten.

His mother was in the courtyard, sighing at the mounds of snow covering her place to practice swordsmanship. "Where is Yahiko?" she wondered, shaking her head, long black hair flying across a face reddened with the cold. "Kenji, is that you?" She smiled and opened her arms for the little redheaded spitfire to run into, whirled him around and put him back onto the ground. "How was school?"

Kenji secretively shook his head. He wouldn't tell his mother yet. "You did nothing?" she asked, a disappointed glinting mocking the shine in her eyes.

"We learned about something called… uh, Ku-ri-su-ma-su," the little boy gave in, his violet-blue eyes dancing in delight, "it's today! Jan said there was a man called Fa-se-ru Ku-ri-su-ma-su coming and giving presents to children. And we wrote down our wishes for Fa-se-ru Ku-ri-su-ma-su and took them home! Then we learned the songs they sing over in Germany and Holland! It's really nice, but I can't say the words, Mama, they are very hard to say! Only Jan can say them, really."

Kaoru laughed and scooped her excited son up into her arms again. "Kenji, you're all wet!" she scolded, "what else did you do?"

"We… fought with snow, made balls out of it and threw them at each other. I can't throw very well," the little boy scowled, "but I hit Sanji! And then Sanji hit me, but…" he chattered on about every single snowball thrown in their epic battle between lessons, and Kaoru listened with a smile on her lips and a tear in her heart.

"Mama, what is it? Why are you so sad?" So her son, with his astute senses, had caught onto her melancholy, which was always more pronounced when the days were short and the nights long and cold seeped into her bones and made her ache even more for the one thing she lacked and missed most. Kenshin… her heart sang longingly.

"I am not sad, my little angel, only a little tired and cold. Why don't we take a hot bath and then make dinner?" Kenji squealed in delight. He loved hot baths! Kaoru held tight onto his small, childish frame. Her second winter without Kenshin to light the fire underneath the furo, her second winter without his arms to make her warm at night.

"Can I help you with dinner, Mama?" Eager blue eyes pleaded with her, "I will sing you one of the songs we learned!"

"You sing that song, Kenji, and we will make dinner together," Kaoru promised, listening as Kenji launched into a sweet, if slightly off-key, rendition of 'Silent Night', a song she had heard for the first time five years ago, on her and Kenshin's first Christmas. She held herself together rigidly, not wanting to break down in front of her son.

"Mama, do you know what I wrote on my wishing paper for Fa-se-ru Ku-ri-su-ma-su?" Kenji asked innocently while being undressed for his bath. He still stumbled over the strange syllables taking from a foreign tongue. Kaoru shook her head.

"No, I don't." She said, a bittersweet smile on her lips.

"I won't tell. It's on my paper, and I will put it outside my door tonight. The Fa-se-ru Ku-ri-su-ma-su will find it and bring me my wish on Ku-ri-su-ma-su morning, that's tomorrow," he explained proudly.

"I'm sure this Fa-se-ru whatever will bring you your wish," Kaoru said, deftly wrapping herself and the little four-year-old into a large blanket before trudging over to the bathhouse where she had lit a fire earlier.

"Fa-se-ru Ku-ri-su-ma-su," Kenji told her, his small face holding a little superior smile because he knew something his mother didn't.

After their bath, Kaoru carried the sleepy boy back into the house, rolling out their futons and laying Kenji down on his. He would not make dinner today. "My paper," the small child whispered, half asleep already, "it has to be outside the door or Fa-se-ru Ku-ri-su-ma-su won't find it!" He turned around, blinking at Kaoru from wide, innocent eyes. "Will you put it outside for me, Mama?"

Kaoru gently covered him in a warm blanket, taking the smudged paper from the pocket of the western jacket Kenji had worn over his Yukata today. Amidst fingerprints and splotches of black ink Kenji's child's scrawl had clearly written what he wished for.

Kaoru clutched the paper tightly, watching the tiny form of her sleeping child as tears ran from her eyes and down her cheeks, glittering crystals as fleeting in existence as the snowflakes covering the g9orund outside. The paper fell from her hands and came to rest just outside the shoji door, Kenji's wish facing the ceiling. There, in black on cream, was her son's greatest desire, written in his script, directly from his heart. "I wish for a father for Christmas."

"Kenshin…" Kaoru sobbed, her knees giving out. She slid down against the wall and silently cried her heart out, gaze resting on her son slumbering peacefully, thinking he would get his wish the next day, "Kenshin…"

Kaoru felt empty and tired, her tears all cried, her heart dried and aching. Why did Kenji have to wish for the one thing she could not give him? Why? Picking herself up from the floor, she made her way to the kitchen. She still had to make dinner for Yahiko, Tsubame and herself.

The miso soup was simmering, the fish was cooked and the rice only needed a few more minutes. Yahiko and Tsubame had arrived in a flurry of cold air, laughter and shy gazes. Kaoru felt only envy watching the two young lovers, remembering the three short years she had had that wonderful closeness, that aching swelling of her heart while Kenshin was with her. "I wish for a father for Christmas," she whispered, repeating Kenji's wish.

The tale was cleared, the meal eaten, the dishes done. Kaoru sat idly in front of her father's shrine, staring unseeingly at his weapons hanging up there, breathing in the gentle scent of her offering to him. The house seemed so empty now, its walls closing in on her. Yahiko and Tsubame had left for a walk through the snow, under the stars. She longed to walk there, too, but not alone. Alone, she didn't want to do anything but sit there and breathe and perhaps have the world forget her just as she forgot it. There was nothing left for Kaoru, nothing but emptiness and waiting for someone who didn't even care enough for his child to stay with them. You're wrong, she chided herself, scowling, he cares too much, that's why he left!

Still, the thought of sharing her love with the world made her feel even smaller and more insignificant, and the tears were renewed as she fell asleep on the cold floor in front of her father's shrine, althewhile hearing Kenji's sweet little voice whispering the words of his wish: "I wish for a father for Christmas."

Morning came, creeping up on her like a small predator, with its horrifying prospect of telling her son that his wish had not come true, that all he had been told was a lie. Kaoru didn't have the strength to get up from her prone, twisted position on the floor, it had ebbed away into the icy cold of her bones that- wasn't there? She was not lying on the floor anymore, instead, she had the comfort of her futon to warm her, and a blanket covering her.

"What happened," she asked out loud, turning around to the source of all the warmth that was in and around her. Her eyes were greeted by two hazy violet ones, strong arms catching her as she shied away and pulling her closer. She reveled in the closeness of his firm body, and the love shining in his dreamy eyes.

"Good morning, Kaoru-dono," his voice purred, and what had seemed like a dream the night before had now become reality. Tears welled up in her eyes again, and she wondered idly when she had become such a crybaby. "I'm sorry I was home so late yesterday, that I am. You looked so uncomfortable on the dojo floor- I carried you here, that I did. I am so sorry, Kaoru, that I am. I was-"

She silenced him with a finger. Today, she didn't want to hear the apologies, didn't want to listen to the causes. Today, she just wanted to live and enjoy being a family. She knew he was going to leave again, soon, but now he was here and she would make the best of the time she was given.

"I know you didn't want to be that long, Kenshin," she whispered, "but you're here now, and that's all that counts. Today is a special day, a day called Ku-ri-su-ma-su, and you're here with us for it." She returned his embrace, snuggling deeper into the comforting presence that was Kenshin.

"I know. I saw… the paper." He reached out with one hand and took Kenji's Christmas wish paper, studying the four-year-old's scrawl with a sad smile on his face. "I missed his birthday, but I could at least give him this, that I could. A father for Christmas, indeed."

"Yes, a father for Christmas," Kaoru said, looking over to where Kenji still lay in the arms of slumber. "He will be so glad when he wakes up."

"That he will, and then we will spend this day together, that we will. I will be Kenji's father for Christmas, that I will." Kaoru smiled, her heart bursting with feeling. Now everything was alright. He was there, and he did care, and he wanted to be with them. The world would not get a piece of him, for now he was all theirs. Kenji stirred, wiping across his brow with a pudgy little arm. Soon, he would awake and see what his wish had brought him- had brought them. Kaoru was certain he had wished for his father as much for her as for himself. He loved Kenshin, even though he didn't show it much.

Kenji's deep blue eyes opened, still clouded over by sleep, watching the world detachedly but intently. It took a few moments for him to wake up and focus, but he saw what he wanted to almost immediately.

"See, Mama? Fa-se-ru Ku-ri-su-ma-su was here!" And Kaoru laughed and said "Yes," cradling her husband and son both in her arms on the most wonderful Christmas morning ever.

****~****The End****~***** 

_Short and pointless, right??? Will you give me a Christmas present nonetheless and review??? Please??? Happy Holidays!!!_

_Chi _


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